Chapter 66: Just This?!
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=5821232
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
In less than an hour, Bai Wenxi made a whole table of food that looked, smelled, and tasted good. It was not worse than the dishes Qin Shiyue ate in high-end restaurants.
“Whoever marries Manager Bai will be happy. She is smart and she can do many things, and her cooking is this good,” Qin Shiyue said from the heart. After eating two meals that did not taste good, she saw a table of good food, and she felt Bai Wenxi was a little angel sent by heaven.
Lin Qingyi gave Qin Shiyue a glance. It was clear she only liked Vase Qin to praise her, and she did not like her to praise others. But cooking was her weak point, so she let it go.
“Teacher Qin, you flatter me too much. Sister Fang helped me a lot,” Bai Wenxi said. With Sister Fang’s help, she saved a lot of time.
“With Manager Bai’s culinary skills, it doesn’t matter if I help or not. Manager Bai is a chef delayed by the manager job,” Fang Xinhua said. She didn't dare take credit. Bai Wenxi’s cooking was not normal at all.
“It seems I hired a treasure girl,” Lin Qingyi said. She looked at the food that made people hungry, and she thought it was a loss that she never asked Bai Wenxi to cook before.
“If you keep praising me, I will be so proud that I will bloom. Let’s eat. It will not taste good when it gets cold,” Bai Wenxi said. She felt she was great, but she was still shy when they praised her twice today.
Faced with the big table of food, everyone was eager to start eating.
“This braised mushroom abalone is so good,” Qin Shiyue said. She picked up a piece of abalone, and it tasted so good that she couldn’t stop praising it.
At that moment, Lin Qingyi looked at Qin Shiyue with a smile that wasn’t a smile.
Even Fang Xinhua and Bai Wenxi looked at her.
Their eyes made Qin Shiyue’s face feel hot. She only said the food was good, so why were they all looking at her?
“If you like it, eat more,” Bai Wenxi said in a serious voice.
Qin Shiyue nodded, said nothing, and quietly kept eating the abalone.
Lin Qingyi saw her eat three in a row and thought, she must really be craving it. Is it really that tasty?
After finishing the abalone, Qin Shiyue reached out to take a garlic vermicelli oyster.
“Don’t eat oysters,” Lin Qingyi said at once. If Vase Qin dared to eat it, she would never let her kiss her.
Qin Shiyue wanted the oyster, but she wanted Lin Qingyi’s kiss more. So she put the juicy and fresh garlic oyster, which looked very tasty, back onto the plate with great pain.
The other two also understood. As two single dogs, they seemed to do it on purpose to tease Baby Qin’er. They each picked up a garlic oyster vermicelli from the plate.
“It’s tender and juicy, it’s really so good,” Fang Xinhua said after eating one. She couldn’t help praising it. She took another one, since the two actresses who were going to kiss weren’t eating any. There was enough for her and Bai Wenxi to enjoy.
Qin Shiyue thought the oysters Bai Wenxi made must be really good too. She was almost drooling, and she looked at Lin Qingyi with a resentful gaze, her big beautiful eyes seeming to complain about how much she was sacrificing for her.
Lin Qingyi saw Qin Shiyue almost salivating and thought, silly Vase Qin is really like this. She gave Bai Wenxi a glance, because she suspected Bai Wenxi did it on purpose. She must know the silly Vase Qin loves this, and still made it with garlic.
“I’ll compensate you tonight,” Lin Qingyi leaned toward Qin Shiyue, her lips close to Qin Shiyue’s ear, speaking softly so only Qin Shiyue could hear.
Hearing this, Qin Shiyue got excited. Was Lin Qingyi talking about the kind of compensation she was thinking of, the one where she could lick and suck something really tender and juicy, even better than the oyster? Never mind, she decided it had to be that kind of compensation.
Now Qin Shiyue wasn’t craving at all. All this delicious food could replace a few oysters. Someone else’s was the rarest, the one she craved most. She couldn’t wait for tonight, looking forward to that compensation from her.
“When are you going to respond?” After finishing most of the meal, Fang Xinhua finally brought up the topic. Baby Qin’er’s cheating hot search started spreading around ten in the morning. By noon it became a public storm, and by eight in the evening, everyone had free time to watch. It was the peak moment, the best time for a PR response.
“How do you plan to respond, Sister Fang?” Bai Wenxi asked.
“Shiyue going in and out of Teacher Lin’s hotel was all for the script and acting scenes. I have videos of Shiyue and Teacher Lin acting together, and proof of Shiyue leaving Teacher Lin’s hotel each time to return to her own. This shows that Teacher Lin and Shiyue never spent the night together during that period. Shiyue’s acting improved significantly starting from episode four, which was exactly when she received guidance from Teacher Lin. We also have witnesses. When Shiyue wanted to improve her acting, she first went to Movie Queen Liu, but because she was filming abroad, she suggested Shiyue go to Teacher Lin, who was filming in the same studio city. Baby Qin’er’s phone should also have chat records with Movie Queen Liu,” Fang Xinhua explained her plan. Baby Qin’er really did develop feelings with Movie Queen Lin after marriage. With evidence, there was nothing to fear from those who twist facts on purpose.
“What a coincidence, I also have videos of my Teacher Lin and Teacher Qin acting together. Teacher Qin’s acting improvement is obvious, and there are chat records with Movie Queen Liu as proof, plus proof of never spending the night together. It’s basically solid,” Bai Wenxi said. She thought this crisis wasn’t that hard. But she was more curious of who was brave enough to start slandering her Teacher Lin?
“What does Teacher Lin think?” Fang Xinhua asked, looking at Lin Qingyi for her opinion.
“Your side respond first. Don’t release all the evidence at once. Let the public enjoy the gossip. There’s no need to slap these vermin dead immediately, let them think there’s still hope so they can’t help but stir up trouble,” Lin Qingyi said, her smile a little cold.
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=5821232
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com
“Teacher Lin is right.” With the evidence they had, they could clear things up immediately. But if they released a little at a time, the rats in the gutter would think there was still a chance to fight back. They would spend more money on fake accounts and stir up more trouble. The more they stirred, the bigger the buzz. The enemies would be literally paying to help them, making the situation hotter. It would be impossible for the enemies not to be furious.
At 8:30 p.m., Qin Shiyue’s official Weibo responded to the cheating hot search.
“There is no cheating during my marriage. Before the divorce, I had no interaction with Lin Qingyi. If there is any evidence of pre-marriage cheating, feel free to expose it. All my interactions with Lin Qingyi happened after marriage. During filming, I did frequently go to her hotel. The reason I often went to her hotel was for the script and acting scenes. People have said that by episode four I seemed like a different person, my acting suddenly improved. It wasn’t a sudden epiphany, it was because I had a good teacher. Under her guidance, my acting improved. And yes, feelings developed naturally during the acting process.”
Fang Xinhua deliberately just made a response, holding back the evidence for now.
Weibo reacted quickly. Within a couple of hours, Qin Shiyue’s official response quickly climbed to the top of the hot searches.
Top liked comment: From now on, if a celebrity cheats during marriage, it’s probably just for the script, for the scene… probably just a sex scene.
Second top comment: You have a point… but… Qin Shiyue’s acting in Princess Girlfriend has indeed improved noticeably. That’s an undisputed fact, so I tend to believe that Qin Shiyue really did properly ask Movie Queen Lin for acting advice. Most importantly, I still trust Movie Queen Lin’s character, so I’ll wait for her reply.
Third top comment: Qin Shiyue going in and out of Teacher Lin’s hotel was indeed just after her divorce, and it was also not long after the divorce. So even if it seems seamless, I don’t think it counts as solid proof. Only photos taken during the marriage would be real proof.
Fourth top comment: It’s already unbelievable that the acting black hole Qin Shiyue has any acting skill. Compared to that, it’s very believable that the two of them were at the hotel working on the script and acting scenes.
Fifth top comment: Did Qin Shiyue really have acting skills? Starting from episode four, she was probably just acting as herself.
After Qin Shiyue’s official Weibo reply, part of public opinion swung back in her favor.
As Lin Qingyi and the others predicted, the paid accounts and marketing accounts run by Zhou Man, trying to spread negativity about them, found the public in a half-believing state. Zhou Man still wanted to push her narrative and prevent them from turning things around, so she bought even more paid accounts and marketing accounts, trying to attack them to the end.
Zhou Man truly hated Qin Shiyue.
Since she last rode on Qin Shiyue’s hot search, she hadn’t even enjoyed it for a few days before she noticed a serious problem: she suddenly disappeared from the hot searches. Even the searches she should have appeared on didn’t show up, and the ones she paid for didn’t work either. Later she found out that someone had intervened and removed all her hot searches.
Zhou Man thought hard but couldn’t figure out which big shot she had offended. After analyzing, she concluded it happened because she piggybacked on Qin Shiyue’s hot search. She decided this was Qin Shiyue’s revenge for trying to steal her spotlight and resources. Zhou Man, who already hated Qin Shiyue for always overshadowing her, now hated her even more.
When she couldn’t get onto the hot searches herself and her popularity dropped, Qin Shiyue was still a regular on the hot searches. After her new drama aired, she became even more popular. Especially after Lin Qingyi kissed her, her popularity reached its peak. Zhou Man, who was extremely jealous of Qin Shiyue, couldn’t stand such a contrast and started scheming again. She took advantage of the moment when they were hyping their CP the most to spill the dirty water she had always wanted to throw. Whether or not they had cheated during marriage, once the dirty water landed on them, she didn’t believe they could stay clean.
As a top-tier traffic star, Qin Shiyue really had a lot of fans. Lin Qingyi’s fan base was also strong, and her reputation with the public was excellent. Most ordinary viewers still chose to trust her character.
Originally, Lin Qingyi’s fans had accepted the fact that Movie Queen Lin and the traffic star Qin Shiyue were together, but they still didn’t think highly of Qin Shiyue or her fans.
This time, Qin Shiyue and Lin Qingyi were both being attacked, which made them work together with great tacit understanding, uniting against the attacks. They clearly knew that their Little Boss Qin and Movie Queen Lin were bound together, what benefited one benefited both, what suffered by one affected both.
Zhou Man bought a huge number of paid accounts and marketing accounts, but all she could do was bring the public opinion back to even. Instead, it pushed Qin Shiyue and Lin Qingyi’s popularity to a new high.
Zhou Man realized that if she couldn’t truly blacken them this time, all her efforts would just add fuel to their popularity. Thinking of this, she almost ground her teeth to pieces, and all she could do was continue spending large amounts on attack articles.
After dinner, once their external PR plan was agreed on, Fang Xinhua and Bai Wenxi went home together.
Qin Shiyue, who had been paying some attention to the public opinion outside, completely forgot all those messy things because of Lin Qingyi’s compensation promise at the dinner table. She focused entirely on waiting for that promise to be fulfilled. Last time, Lin Qingyi’s surprise gift exceeded her expectations by far. This time, the surprise couldn’t possibly be worse.
With outsiders around, they had to restrain themselves a bit. After three or four hours without a kiss or a hug, the moment Fang Xinhua and Bai Wenxi left together, Qin Shiyue immediately hugged Lin Qingyi.
“Someone said there’s compensation tonight,” Qin Shiyue reminded her, worried she might not acknowledge it.
Hearing this, Lin Qingyi leaned in and kissed Qin Shiyue. She probably could get addicted to kissing someone she liked.
“All done with the compensation,” Lin Qingyi said with a smile as the long, lingering kiss ended.
“Just this!?” This was obviously far below Qin Shiyue’s expectations. She couldn’t accept being toyed with like this, one kiss after building her hopes so high just wouldn’t do.
“Then what? Baby wants what kind of compensation?” Lin Qingyi raised her brow and asked.
"Use the same form to supplement form.*”
*以形补形 (yǐ xíng bǔ xíng) - Use a shape/organ to replenish the same shape/organ. Concept in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Chinese food therapy that means that eating a specific animal organ will nourish and strengthen the corresponding organ in your own body. Like literal ‘eye for an eye’.
Author’s Note:
This time it might be for real.
